The following article appears in this week’s issue of the EIR Strategic Alert Service (19/26).
The name of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s speechwriter, Sam Lyman, is very similar to Lie-man (it is actually pronounced the same), which better suits his nature. A liar and a quack doctor reminiscent of Donizetti’s Dr. Dulcamara, Lyman authored an article for the Washington Post to promote the Trump administration “funny money” scheme, stablecoins, pulling the ultimate argument from his juggler’s hat: if we don’t do it, China will tear the US dollar.
Stablecoins are tokens, nominally pegged to U.S.Treasury bills. De facto, a piece of digital paper exchanged for the depositor’s money. The Trump administration has allowed a range of commercial entities to issue such tokens, and is now fighting to have Congress allow stablecoins to earn interest. Banks are against the move, for obvious reasons: they fear competition and the drying out of deposits. From the standpoint of a national economy, a loss of deposits in the banking system means less bank credit. And since stablecoin issuers are not allowed to lend money, the result is a net loss of bank credit to the economy, and what credit is available for businesses and households will be more expensive.
Sam Lyman does not address this issue, but claims that, if the banks win the fight in Congress, “they will hamper global dollar competitiveness and strengthen China’s digital yuan. Unwittingly, America’s banks are doing Beijing’s bidding.” This is a total travesty. Lyman creates the impression that China is already doing what he would like the U.S. to do, which is not true. What China has launched is a digital yuan, that is a central bank digital currency. This is a real currency, issued by the national government, as opposed to stablecoins which are private currencies.
